Add Category
A Hong Kong court has sentenced 12 people to jail terms of up to almost seven years each in a high-profile rioting case linked to the storming of the city legislature during a pro-democracy protest in 2019.
The incident was a pivotal moment in the months-long protests that embroiled the China-ruled city in the boldest populist uprising against Chinese Communist Party rule since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing.
Protesters broke into Hong Kong's legislative council building on July 1, 2019, smashing windows and streaming inside as public anger mounted over an "extradition" bill.
The bill would have allowed authorities to send people to mainland China for trial.
Those sentenced by district court Judge Li Chi-ho on Saturday included actor Gregory Wong, 45, who had pleaded not guilty.
The political activists Ventus Lau and Owen Chow, who had pleaded guilty, also received terms of 54 months and 20 days, and 61 months and 15 days, respectively.
Judge Li described the incident as a "serious" blow to the city's rule of law.
"The large number of protesters, the intensity, the unique constitutional status of the Legislative Council, and the intention to weaken the significance of the (Hong Kong) government, are insulting," he said.
He described in detail how protesters had rammed their way into the building with metal barricades, pelted the area with eggs and sprayed political slogans on the walls.
Relatives and supporters shouted "Take care!" and "Hang in there!" as the defendants were led away from the glass dock.
Mr Chow said the government's refusal to withdraw the extradition bill after one million people marched in protest caused the incident.
"No matter what punishment the court imposes on me, I'll continue to move forward and convert my fear into a force for change, just like the day I walked into the chamber," Mr Chow told the court before the sentences were handed down.
He said protesters were standing up for basic human rights.
"Martin Luther King, leader of the human rights movement, who has always advocated peaceful and rational demonstrations, once said, 'A riot is the language of the unheard'," Mr Chow told the court.
Mr Lau later left Hong Kong but returned despite the risk of prosecution.
"I don't want the public to think all the people in this movement only care about their own safety," he said.
In a letter submitted to the court last month, actor Wong said his arrest and conviction had derailed his career as an actor, which he had since the age 12.
"I will still help people in need with a sincere heart," Wong wrote.
Student reporter Wong Ka-ho and online media reporter Ma Kai-chung, who were acquitted of rioting but found guilty of "entering or staying in the precincts of the chamber", received fines of HK$1,500 ($292) and HK$1,000 ($194) respectively.
More than 10,200 people were arrested in relation to the protests in 2019.
2,937 of those were charged with offences including rioting, unlawful assembly and criminal damage, according to police figures.
Reuters